
Class P %?//Z . 
Book iS_ 



Copyiightr.> 2) 73 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSn^. 






V. 




f 



DAYS AT MOUNT VERNON. 












BOSTON: 5 

EKACON PRESS, THOMAS TODD, PRINTER, ] 

Corner Beacon and Somerset Sts. ■! 

1879- ■ 

I 
I 



1 









4 

Copyright, 1879, by Thomas Todd. - 







See page lo. 







%0 tell us something about modern life at Mount Ver- 

M non ! " asks many a lady pilgrim of inquiring mind. 

^~ " Don't all sorts of people come here, and many queer 

things happen that will never get into history, or even 

"^r into the newspapers?" 

" Enough to fill a volume," might be truthfully answered ; 
for there is a better chance to study human nature now at 
Mount Vernon than there ever could have been in Washing- 
ton's time. More people come to honor him dead than came 
to visit him living. There is more human nature in this 
country now than there was then — millions more of it. 

" I suppose a great many foreigners come here, too ? " 
said some one on a recent occasion ; and one of the 
employes replied : 3 



Days at Mount Vernon. 



" Yes, a great many foreigners ; we had some Indians here 
the other day." 

What made everybody laugh ? Then a boy who had been 
reading Cooper's novels, and dreaming of nice, clean, 
romantic Indians, wanted to hear about some of the chiefs 
when they came to Mount Vernon, how they behaved, etc. 







?i%(E/)l^ 



-^ VISIT OF RED GLOUD.-^ 

It was one summer day, many years ago now, that Red 
Cloud came, with his thirty Sioux braves, all more or less 
famed for martial exploits. Some of them had scalp-locks 
attached to their belts. They wore heavy blankets, though 
the weather was warm, some of them gray, some red, others 
gaily striped in various colors. They had evidently bedecked 
themselves, for a festive occasion, with their showiest paint, 
beads, necklaces and feathers. All carried the fatal toma- 
hawk at their sides. One fellow had an oyster-shell tail 
several yards long attached to his person, and cast a back- 
ward glance at it now and then, with all the conscious pride 
of a ball-room belle, or a barnyard peacock. Colonel Dodge, 
an Indian agent, had brought them on this excursion, as a 
recreation from their business engagements in Washington ; 
so if they failed to get all they wanted from the " Great 
Chief " and the Secretary of the Interior, they would at least 
have one pleasant memory to carry home with them. 
" Did they have any squaws ? " asked the boy. 
They had several squaws with them ; which was which, we 
could not tell, but we could distinguish Lady Red Cloud by 
the marked favoritism he showed her. She sat humbly at his 



Days at Mount Vernon. 



feet, and when he was eating watermelon, which he enjoyed 
hugely, he bit off little pieces every now and then, and 
gravely put them into her mouth — a delicate marital atten- 
tion on his part, showing a partnership of interests, at least. 

A lady present asked one of the chiefs if he had scalped 
many people. This was rendered to him in his native lingo, 
by the interpreter. He laid his hand on his tomahawk, and 
expressively flourished it round the head of her baby, which 
she had amicably allowed him to take in his arms. The 
mother screamed. Then the Indian smiled grimly, and said, 
"Ugh!" He had meant it for a joke, the pleasantest he 
knew of. But she snatched her baby away from him. Then 
Colonel Dodge said he wished very much that persons would 
not speak to them at all about scalps. It was a weak point in 
the Indian nature, and roused all their worst hereditary pas- 
sions. Still, on the whole. Red Cloud and his band were fine, 
stalwart specimens of Red Men, with more moral sentiment 
than is usually ascribed to the race, outside of Cooper. Each 
one put his hand through the bars of the tomb, and exclaimed 
" How ! " as he passed by, and who knows but that the spirit 
of the great departed returned the salute of these, his pos- 
thumous children ? 

When Red Cloud stood before that noble, martial looking 
portrait, by Trumbull, in the Banquet Hall, so different from 
all other portraits of Washington, something in it appealed to 



^ 






nh-^. i-uJfnr 1 1 - -^i^^ M T) 







Days at Mount Vernon. 



his own innate fire. He paused, pointing to it with a gesture 
full of untaught grace and dramatic meaning. 

" Was he the friend of the Red Man ? " he asked. 

The Superintendent was not at a loss for a reply. 

" He was the friend of all mankind." 

The Indians received this with manifest respect. They 
spent most of the time that they were not eating, lying out 
under the trees, and gazing up at the sky, with those solemn 
faces of theirs. When they were leaving, they told their 
interpreter to say that they had enjoyed themselves more at 
Mount Vernon than at any place since they left their own 
homes in the West. " It is the only place where we could lie 
down on the grass under the trees," they said. 



-^THE WEDDINS.-^ 

(See Plate.) 



A MARRIAGE «.ctually took place at Mount Vernon during 
the Centennial summer ; probably next in order to the his- 
toric nuptials of Miss Eleanor Custis, the adopted daughter 
of Washington, and his nephew, Mr. Lawrence Lewis. 

The modern bridal party were from the West somewhere, 
and came to Washington e7i route from the Centennial. The 
young lady was traveling with friends of her own, and while 
at the Exposition met her future husband. Some say they 



Days at Mount Vernon, 



did not become engaged until they got on the boat at Wash- 
ington to go to Mount Vernon — a short engagement of two 
hours ! However, this was scarcely more than a surmise, and 
cannot be stated with authority. At any rate they could 
have had no idea of being married that day, or they would 
have procured that necessary adjunct, a license, beforehand. 
The sentimental influences of Mount Vernon, and a love of 
personal adventure, must have prompted them to make this 
August day the most eventful one of their lives. 

The party were seen conversing eagerly in squads, whisper- 
ing, casting furtive glances around at the other visitors, who 
that day numbered some three huncjred. At last one of 
their number came to the Superintendent, Colonel Hollings- 
worth, seeing that he was the head man at Mount Vernon, 
and asked him if there was a minister there. By this time a 
flutter of curiosity and anticipation had passed through the 
crowd. They gathered thick and fast, so as not to lose what- 
ever might be about to transpire. 

The Colonel, in order to engage the public attention, had 
to stand on a sofa. 

" Is there a minister here ? " he called out at the top of 
his voice, so ail the three hundred now congregated in the 
Banquet Hall, could hear him. 

There always is one in crowds, so there came a response 
to his call. 



Days at Mount Vernon. 



A prayer-book was then found, and the few and tnfl.ng 
preparations made that arc requisite in tying up two people 
for life The bride was a fresh, buxom creature. No par- 
ticulars as to her wedding costume can be given, except that 
she wore very red roses in her cheeks, and the usual Imen 
duster of the Centennial period, if not actually on her back, 
was not very far off. She had been charmed, carried away 
no doubt, by the wild romance of this hasty marriage, and 
.ot through the ceremony without unusual embarrassment. 
Then somehow the crowd and confusion around them were 
so great, she found the communication between her and her 
bridegroom cut off entirely. No telegram of eyes or lips 

could reach him. ' 

A rough customer, self-invited to the weddmg, rushed up, 

and suiting the agtion to the word, said : 
" Here's a kiss for Indiana ! " 
Another, determined to have his share of privileges, 

cried : 

" Here's one for Ohio ! " 

A third seized " One for Wisconsin ! " 

Then the poor girl began to cry. She had not bargained 
for this rude experience ; it savored less of romance and more 
of assault The indignant bridegroom was elbowmg his way 
back to her, threatening to knock down anybody else who 
touched her. When he resumed his place at her side, he 
sava-ely drew on his overcoat, in spite of the August heat. 



10 Days at Mount Vernon. 

then drew her arm through his, and marched off with her to 
the boat, where they waited for it to start. The officiating 
clergyman had to keep them in sight, being responsible for 
their license, so they got off in company at Alexandria to 
procure one. A rumor afterwards got back to Mount Vernon 
that he did not receive any fee for his services. 



■^THE BAPTISM.-^ 

(See Plate.) 



There was also a baptismal rite performed in the State 
Banquet Hall of the Mansion, a few years ago. A couple 
from Washington brought their babe to Mount Vernon, and 
then decided to have it baptized there. A clergyman was 
again invoked, and found among the pilgrims. All had taken 
their positions for the ceremony ; the parents stood with the 
unconscious infant, fondly hoping it would maintain a fault- 
less deportment, and not cry for the next ten minutes. The 
minister began: "Dearly beloved," etc. It was suddenly 
perceived that the most important element next to the baby 
in a baptism, was missing, viz. : water. One of the young 
men brought a bowl of it in great haste from the lunch table. 
The minister dipped his fingers in it ; it was hot water, and 
might have scalded the baby, besides being uncanonical. 




^^a.^ .^ ^ >^^/.^ .^^^ ^ ^. 



Days at Mount Vernon. 11 

Finally the child was baptized, and he had name enough to 
impede his growth, when it was done — " George Washington 
Parke Custis Theodore Lafayette," and more still, they said, 
but this is all that can be recalled. 



"Was General Washington in tlje Onion or ti^e Rebel Army?" 

This question was put by an elderly lady once, and the 
guide assured her without hesitation : 
" In the Rebel army, madam." 



•^"Wbat is a Bastile, anyliow?"-^ 

(See Plate.) 

Another ancient female looked up at the key of the 
Bastile, in its glass casket, which was presented to Wash- 
ington by Lafayette after the storming of that fortress. 

" What is a Bastile, anyhow," said she, "and was that the 
key of the front door ? And what was that you was a sayin' 
down at the Tomb ? I didn't get there in time. Was it a 
hundred and thirty years ago that Washington died, or was 
he born then ? " Without waiting for an answer, she con- 



12 Days at Mount Vernon. 

eluded : " Well, he's dead, anyhow. Wasn't he a very tall 
man ? " 

" About six feet two, m'am." 

"Why, I thought he was somethin' extra; I've seen plenty 
of 'em as tall as that ! " 



■^"THE ROOM LAFAYETTE DIED IN."-^ 

" Won't you show me the room Lafayette died in?" a lady 

asked one day. 

" Oh, he didn't die here ; he died in France ! " 

" Well, I know somebody died here," she responded 

triumphantly. 



The Won?an who Gontribated a Dollar to Buy Mount Vernon. 

(See Plate.) 

A WOMAN was seen one day spreading herself over one of 
the flower beds, with an air of entire appropriation, snipping 
off flowers with a pair of scissors, as fast as she could snip. 
One of the guards made a rush for her. 

" This is not allowed, madam ! " 

" I contributed a dollar to buy this place," said she, " and I 
intend to pull as many flowers as I please ! " 




yy CTiTf^e /:^^^-z^^^:i^ cx_ 'S/ff-c'i'a^y A ^^*5^ ^Zj 






Days at Mount Vernon. 13 



->THE WASHINGTON OAK.-^ 

" That Oak is three or four hundred years old," said the 
guide one day to the guests, as they were ascending the hill 
on their way from the boat. 

" Did I understand you to say, sir, that General Wash- 
ington planted that oak?" asked an old man who was 
bringing up the rear. He took out his penknife, opened 
the biggest blade, as if he were making ready to lop off a 
branch. On being informed that he could not be permitted 
to carry this oak, or any part of it, away with him, he looked 
resigned, and was afterwards seen with a log of wood from 
the kitchen woodpile, lugging it down to the boat to preserve 
it as a souvenir. 



NAPOLEON'S WILLOWS. 



" Can I take a slip from one of them willows Napoleon 
planted down in that hollow ? " asked another gentleman. 

"Those willows were shoots from the willows at Napo- 
leon's grave in St. Helena. Yes," said the guide, "you may 



have a cutting. 



14 Bays at Mount Vernon. 



•>■ REPORT OF WASHINGTON'o PETRIFACTION.-^ 

" And ain't he petrified ? " asked a comical old man, as 
he stood in front of the Tomb. This arose from a totally 
unfounded rumor, then going the rounds of the newspapers, 
that the remains having been necessarily opened very 
recently, had been discovered to be turned to stone, retain- 
ing the exact likeness of the original. This originated in 
the fertile and sensational brain of some reporter, for in 1S37, 
when removed from the old tomb, the remains were forever 
secured from disturbance by the locking of the inner vault, 
and the key's being thrown into the Potomac. 



■^-RELIG HUNTERS.-^- 



A PREMIUM is set on honesty at Mount Vernon. Each 
visitor is presented with pieces of box, fallen leaves from the 
magnolia Washington planted, cherrystones descended from 
the immortal cherry tree he cut down — all this, and yet they 
are not happy ! When several hundred have been there at 
once, especially in Centennial days when such crowds were a 
common occurrence, in order to facilitate the rush for pebbles 
in front of the Tomb, basketfuls and wheelbarrow loads were 
brought up from the river. Everybody could not be watched. 



Days at Mount Vernon. 15 



and in spite of vigilance, some depredations were committed. 
A daring robbery was perpetrated in Lafayette's room. A 
woman scaled the lattice doorway, and by a skillful flank 
movement stole the pillow-shams, never dreamed of, nor on, 
by Lafayette ; put there long after. She secreted them on 
her person, and then seized the mantel ornaments, snuffers 
and tray. These were seen and taken from her, but the 
pillow-shams were never recovered. 

Once the keys were stolen out of all the doors. Again, a 
man climbed out on the roof to get one of the shingles. 
True, it was the second edition of shingles, to say nothing of 
the coatings of oil and paint, since the General's day, but he 
did not care. He said his wife would never forgive him if he 
did not bring her a part of the house itself. 

It might be a nice calculation for the moral philosopher to 
determine just how much admiration for greatness can exist 
in the human mind, along with a propensity for petty thievery. 
They must be there together, for one seems to cause the 
other. 



16 Days at Mount Vernon. 



-»-MRS. WASHINGTON'S GAT.-^ 

Once when the guide was telling the story he usually 
gives in the third-story room Mrs. Washington occupied as a 
widow, just as he came to the place: "A hole was cut in 
the door, in order that her favorite cat might crawl in," a gray 
cat did crawl through just in time to "point the moral and 
adorn the tale." 

" And there's the cat ! " said somebody, in good faith. 

"Yes, just seventy-eight years old!" added the guide, 
without even a smile. 



A GENTLEMAN from Boston visiting Mount Vernon, told 
the Superintendent his little daughter at home wanted him to 
bring her a kitten from there. A lineal descendant of Mrs. 
Washington's pet cat was bestowed upon him, and he took 
it away with him. Afterwards this same gentleman, return- 
ing, told Colonel Hollingsworth that his daughter had sent 
the kitten to a cat show in Boston, with this inscription on 
its collar : " A descendant of the cat at Mount Vernon that 
used to crawl through the hole in Mrs. Washington's door." 
The kitten took the prize, as being a fine full-blooded speci- 
men of feline aristocracy. 



Days at Mount Vernon. 17 



■^WASHINGTON'S UMBRELLA.-^ 

One very rainy day a young man employed as guide, 
borrowed an umbrella from Nathan. (Apropos of Nathan : 
he is the butler and majordomo at Mount Vernon, and may 
be found in the lunch-room. He is a descendant of the old 
colored servants in the Washington family, and is an honest 
man in principles, a gentleman in manners, which is more 
than can be said of everybody.) Now for the umbrella. It 
was very large and holy, and looked as if its claims to 
antiquity were undeniable. When the guide came back to 
the house with the visitors on the way from the boat, he hung 
this umbrella on a nail in the room once used as a sitting- 
room. Showing various articles to the guests, one of them 
pointed to it, and said : 

"That, I suppose, is Washington's umbrella, just as he 
left it there ! " 



4- THE BIRD'S NEST OVER THE TOMB.-^ 

There has been a bird's nest every year for many seasons 
directly over the Tomb. This is not always the same nest, 
for several have been given away, but it always looks very 
much like the last, and it is thought tha*: the same bird, 



18 Days at Mount Vernon. 



become attached to the place, returns and makes a new one 
every year. Her young brood hop here and there, crying, 
"pe-wit! pe-wit!" taking their first lessons of life where all 
life must end, in a sepulcher. 



-^ VISIT OF DOM PEDRO.-^ 



Nearly all the famous men and women who come to 
Washington take the trip down the Potomac to Mount 
Vernon. Among others came the Emperor of Brazil — not 
at seven o'clock in the morning, the time he selected for 
visiting the Corcoran Art Gallery, thereby rousing the 
Trustees who were to escort him, at an unwonted hour. 
He had in this instance to wait for the boat, which starts 
at ten, even with an emperor on board. 

He was received at the boat landing by the Superin- 
tendent, with due ceremony. The royal gentleman was a 
tall, gray haired man, of fine bearing and unostentatious 
manners. He observed everything at Mount Vernon with 
that close and complimentary attention he bestowed upon 
everything in the United States. Before leaving, he was 
requested to plant a young elm. This tree took root and 
flourished. May our institutions, transplanted to Brazil, 
flourish as well there ! There are no traces left of the 




0/l ^ £>li\^t-t' '^^■^c'^ ^ '^^>'>'u ^^^Oi^ 



Days at Mount Vernon. 19 

tree planted many years ago by the Prince of Wales. How 
could anything planted by the House of Brunswick thrive on 
soil owned by Washington .-' 



-^THE MAN WHO WAS TAKEN ILL ON THE LAWN.-^- 

(See Plate.) 

It may be cruel to laugh at a poor man's being ill 
anywhere, but there are features about this catastrophe, 
occurring as it did several years since, that still cause a 
smile at Mount Vernon. 

A young man ate freely of cucumbers for lunch, and 
finished off with ice cream. Some one suggested that the 
two might prove incompatible, but he said he liked both, and 
he didn't see why they shouldn't like each other. Not long 
after he was taken ill ; in fact, his symptoms for a time were 
alarming. Stretched out on the lawn in front of the Man- 
sion, he was groaning awfully, perfectly reckless as to obser- 
vation. A young woman with him held his head in her lap ; 
it did not transpire what relation she bore to the sufferer, but 
that of sweetheart was suspected. Pat, an Irishman then 
employed on the place, was sent in search of a doctor among 
the visitors. One was found walking in the woods with a 
young lady, also supposed to be his sweetheart. He 



20 Days at Mount Vernon. 

responded with alacrity, like a true Esculapius, to the call 
of pain, but his accompanying damsel, not sworn to the 
service of philanthropy, frowned and objected. " Confound 
the man ! " said she ; " I want you to walk with 7ne f' 

When Pat and the Doctor got to the sick man, the first 
thing they did was to prepare some toddy and a mustard 
plaster. Seeing the latter, the young lady, acting as con- 
soler, with his head in her lap, cried out in moving accents : 

" Oh, don't hurt him. Doctor ! " 

Then- Pat began to laugh. 

The sick man screamed : 

'•' Oh, my mother ! I've got the cholera, I'm dying, I must 
see my mother ! She lives over near Arlington ; send for 
her ! " 

"We've telegraphed for her, sir!" said Pat, but he would 
keep laughing, so he could hardly hold the brandy still in his 
hand. 

"For shame, Pat, when the man says he is dying!" 
whispered somebody. 

" What gits me, is the way he shouts for his mother ! " 

Well, the man did not die that time ; he probably saw his 
mother before long, for he was successfully patched up, and 
carried by six of the workmen down to the boat. 



Days at Mount Vernon. 21 



■^ VISIT OF PRESIDENT AND MRS. HAYES.-^ 

This is the only instance remembered by any one now 
employed at Mount Vernon of a President's staying there 
over night. It was in June, 1878, just after the close of the 
Council. The President and Mrs. Hayes, supposing it to be 
still in session, came down to see the Vice Regents, and to 
spend Sunday in this novel manner. The ladies had all left, 
with the exception of two, and they, with Colonel Hollings- 
worth, the Superintendent, extended the hospitalities of the 
Mansion in a becoming manner. The President and his lady 
seemed desirous of giving as little trouble as possible ; they 
behaved with their usual singular affability and freedom from 
ostentation. In fact, they wanted to be treated for once just 
like other people, and appeared to enjoy gathering berries by 
the roadside as much as anything else. On Sunday morning 
they all went in the ambulance over to Pohick Church,' about 
six miles from Mount Vernon, a relic of ye olden time, as 
General and Mrs. Washington often attended there. No 
fairy godmother could evoke from the past the coach which 
used to convey them, for the use of this, his successor. It 
fell into the possession of the Meade family in Virginia, many 
years ago, and finally became so decrepit with age that it was 
cut up and sold at fairs in the shape of canes and ornaments. 
The President and Mrs. Hayes did not complain of the 



$ 



22 Days at Mount Vernon. 

ambulance, however, nor of the Virginia roads ; they thought 
everything was deUghtful, and declared, on leaving, that they 
never had had such a nice time anywhere as they had at 
Mount Vernon. 



•^ VISIT OF THE GHIMESS EMBASSY.-^ 

These Celestial gentlemen made their first visit to Mount 
Vernon one fine day in October. There were about twelve 
of them, attired in native magnificence of flowing robes and 
carefully plaited pigtails. Their costume in our eyes was 
peculiar, but their traveling manners might well have been 
imitated by many of our own countrymen. Their deport- 
ment was that of the highest birth and culture. They all 
wore a kind of cloth petticoat, laced up at the side. This 
was of one color, and the loose cloth sack was of another. 
Their shoes were not as well adapted to walking as ours, but 
they moved along so deftly that they did not look soiled. 
The minister, his Eminence Chin Lan Pin, is an elderly 
gentleman of a benevolent and intelligent countenance, and 
great suavity of manner. His associate minister, Mr. Yung 
Wing, was the only one of the party who wore the American 
dress, and was at first supposed to be the interpreter, as he 
acted in that capacity, speaking choice English. He is an 



Days at Mount Vernon. 23 



agreeable and enlightened diplomat, belonging to the Reform 
party in China. He has been living in America twelve years 
and more, long enough to decide which of our institutions 
would be best adapted to his own country. It was discovered 
that he did not admire the small feet of his countrywomen, 
and that his own wife was an American lady. He was heard 
to say that he thought our custom of wearing very high heels, 
almost in the middle of the shoe, was almost as injurious as 
that of compressing the feet, as they do in China. The 
Embassy all noticed the arrangements at Mount Vernon with 
minute interest, and scrutinized especially the portraits of 
Mrs. Washington, whether admiringly or otherwise was not 
known, for they may still have preferred the Chinese standard 
of female beauty. While going through the greenhouse. 
Colonel Hollingsworth presented Chin Lan Pin with a fine 
bouquet. With the instinct of a true gentleman, his 
Eminence, not wishing, as it were, to monopolize the 
attentions, offered a flower to some ladies walking behind 
him. These ladies were afterwards introduced to him with 
due form. As they all stood ranged in a semicircle on the 
lawn, bowing low, receiving and returning greetings, the 
effect reminded one very much of the pictures on Chinese 
tea-boxes. 

" It all looks very old here to us, but how new it must 
seem to you ! " said one of these ladies, and Yung Wing 
translated into Chinese. 



24 Days at Mount Vernon. 



When lunch time came, some of the attendants of the 
Embassy produced large hampers of provisions, and they 
took lunch at an outside table all to themselves. They 
apparently ate sandwiches and hard-boiled eggs, like our own 
people on a picnic, but the tea they made themselves in 
Chinese fashion, and drank it out of tiny teacups, without 
saucers. It was probably such tea as cannot be bought in 
this country, and might not even be appreciated by our tea- 
vitiated taste. Then they adjourned to some seats under 
trees that overlooked the river, and smoked together, prob- 
ably commenting in unreserved intercourse on what they had 
seen. Before leaving, they offered thanks with oriental 
grace for the civilities they had received. 



-^THE LAST GOUNGIL DAY AT MOUNT VERNON.-^- 

The Mount Vernon estate, now owned by the women of 
America, is governed in their name by a Regent and Vice 
Regents from the different States. These hold an annual 
Council, and such as cannot come in person, select pro.xies 
from among those who can, to vote and act for them. 

This Mount Vernon Council is the only legislative body 
composed entirely of women, now recognized in the world. 
Perhaps the workings and success of this, may have some 



Days at Mount Vernon. 2b 

ultimate effect on the female suffrage movement — who 
knows ? 

The Council for 1879 was convened June i ith, and closed 
on the 13th. The only important change during the year 
expired was the contract with the new boat, the " W. W. 
Corcoran," under Captain L. L. Blake. On the closing day, 
Mr. Corcoran came down to pay his respects to the Council 
in session, being one of the Advisory Committee, and also to 
acknowledge the graceful compliment to himself in the nam- 
ing of the fine new boat. He sat with the ladies in the 
Council Room, and while there, presented two pieces of a 
dinner service belonging to Washington, to be placed in the 
cabirtet in the Ohio room, and a valuable old bowl belonging 
to the Stuart family, for the Maryland room. 

A number of guests spent the day at Mount Vernon, 
returning by the evening boat, which runs only in Council 
week. 

After dinner it was proposed to go and see the live stock, 
having looked at relics long enough. It is mentioned in 
Lossing's history that, although Washington had a hundred 
and one cows, he complained that he had not enough milk 
and butter for home uses. There are now eleven cows, and 
milk is sold in abundance on the lunch table. One of these 
cows is a fine specimen, given by Mrs. Halstead, Vice Regent 
from New Jersey. It is the daughter of the celebrated 
" Lady Creamer," an English cow; "beautiful daughter of a 



26 Days at Mount Vernon. 

more beautiful mother." Another was presented to Mount 
Vernon by a district butcher, as a curiosity, her legs being 
so short as to constitute a deformity. Esau, the colored 
boy who has charge of her, has a build not unlike the cow, 
thick set body and short legs. 

"Colonel," said he, on first acquaintance with her, " I don't 
see how I'm a goin' to milk her, without I dig a hole in the 
ground, and git down in thar, flat o' my back, and then she 
mought kick me in the eye, or kick the pail over ! " 

This was true ; she was a very inconvenient cow. The 
rest of the live stock consists of fourteen pigs, one hundred 
and fifty chickens, fifteen ducks, ten turkeys, five guinea- 
fowls, one pea-fowl, fifteen cats and kittens, one dozen dogs 
(three hounds, seven setters and two Scotch terriers). But 
by another summer the increase in live stock may be very 
considerable. Mount Vernon does not stand still ; it is 
designed to make a model farm of it, kept by the legislation 
of the Regency and the vigilance of the Superintendent 
forever new, yet forever old. 




A^^'3i 



